Talking about Postpartum Depression Often Helps

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Talking about Postpartum Depression Often Helps

(August 7, 2007) - Sandra Poulin couldn't have been more thrilled when she found out she was expecting.

G.J. MCcCARTHY/DMN

For Lisa D'Amura of Keller, a quick diagnosis and getting treatment right away helped her to work through her postpartum depression and to start enjoying sons Ethan and Cole.

Then, when Rachel was born in 1996, the Dallas mom, who had always thought of herself as a happy person, couldn't sleep and began crying for no reason.

Relief didn't begin until she learned about postpartum depression (PPD) and realized that she was among the 15 percent of new mothers affected by it.

"I didn't even know it existed," Ms. Poulin says. "For most women, it's not something they talk about."

Also Online Resources for postpartum depression But talking, she learned, was the first step to recovery. And she has since dedicated herself to helping other women open up about it. She solicited hundreds of first-person stories for The Mother-to-Mother Postpartum Depression Support Book. ($14, Berkley Trade).

Recognition of PPD and support groups for the condition have slowly increased.

Sheila McComas of Garland and Lisa D'Amura of Keller, both sufferers of postpartum depression, operaterun support groups for the condition through Postpartum Support International. Ms. McComas, a mother of five, began her group 16 years ago. Ms. D'Amura, a mother of two, traveled to Richardson to attend Ms. McComas' group and then, with her encouragement, kicked off a Fort Worth group in April.

PSI's message is that mothers with postpartum depression are not alone, not to blame and will be well.

Much unknown

There's a lot to learn about the condition. Experts suggest that it can be sparked or exacerbated by rapid hormonal changes, psychiatric problems, underdeveloped coping skills and traumas, including the death of a loved one, economic stress or relationship problems.

But whatever the cause or causes, it is important to support and not blame the mother, says Dr. Shoshana Bennett, a San Francisco-based clinical psychologist who treats patients across the country via phone. Dr. Bennett is the president of Postpartum Assistance for Mothers ( www.happynewmom.com and www.postpartumdepressionhelp.com) and author of Postpartum Depression for Dummies (For Dummies, $19.99).

"This is a biochemical condition," says Dr. Bennett says.. "This is not a weakness;, there is not a personality flaw. It is not in any way a reflection of what kind of mom you are. If you get help, this goes away. It is very treatable."

Dr. Bennett speaks from personal experience. She suffered undiagnosed postpartum depression with both of her children. It wasn't until she was going through it the second time that she saw a show on television program that gave a name to her condition. .

"That's why I do the work I do," she says. "I had felt my life was over. I had post-traumatic stress disorder, obsessive-compulsive disorder, panic, extreme anxiety. I was feeling hopeless and helpless and angry a lot of the time. I felt like the worst mother on the face of the planet. It felt like a living nightmare."

One of her goals is to teach doctors to give regular screenings to pregnant and postpartum women and to provide support and education to minimize, if not prevent, the effects.

Be prepared

Ms. McComas, 47, says her best advice is to have a postpartum plan, just as you have a birth plan.

The birth of each of her five babies posed its own challenges: her third has cerebral palsy, and when she gave birth to her fourth, her husband went into cardiac arrest. .

But by the fifth, she had plans in place. She had researched natural hormones and talked with her doctor about the possibility of antidepressants or ultimately hospitalization if the hormones didn't work. She also made planned to have friends stay with her after the birth so she wouldn't be alone when her husband wasn't available.

Ms. D'Amura, 27, says Ms. McComas' group helped her when she found herself struggling six months after each of her boys was born.

While Ms. D'Amura admits she was hesitant to admit what she was experiencing, as a nurse it only took her only a few weeks to recognize the symptoms: sadness, lack of appetite and inability to sleep more than four hours a night.

She credits her quick diagnosis and treatment forto her rapid recovery. Her first postpartum depression lasted months; her second went away within a year.

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"I'm in a great place now where my husband and I are very happy and my sons are my greatest joy," Ms. D'Amura says. "That's what I like to tell people who come to my group.: It gets better, and life can be what you expected ... [it] to be, it just might take a while."

By NANCY CHURNIN / The Dallas Morning News
Source: dallasnews.com

Last updated: 08/07

Talking about Postpartum Depression Often Helps

Much unknown

Be prepared

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